Ondo guber aspirant, Ohunyeye, seeks probe of Akintelure’s death

• CJID, GNI train journalists on digital skills, fact-checking
• Warn against dissemination of unverified information

A governorship aspirant under the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for the forthcoming governorship election in Ondo State, Olamide Ohunyeye, has urged a probe into the cause of the death of his fellow aspirant, Dr Paul Akintelure.

Ohunyeye said that the call became imperative following the alarm of threat to life raised by the deceased a few days before his demise.

Ohunyeye, who expressed shock over the sudden demise of the late Akintelure, suspended all his political activities and those of his campaign organisation to mourn and honour him, whom he described as his senior brother.

In a statement he signed, Ohunyeye said that among the political engagements that would be put on hold included a scheduled media parley as well as a tour of some wards in the state.

MEANWHILE, in a bid to combat information disorder ahead of the forthcoming governorship election in the state, the Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development (CJID), through its fact-checking initiative, Dubawa, in partnership with the Google News Initiative (GNI), has trained no fewer than 40 journalists in the state.

The training, according to them, was designed to enhance the capacity of journalists, as well as introduce participants to essential fact-checking techniques and Google tools for information coverage and verification.

According to the Director of Programme, CJID, Dr Babatunde Akintunde, the training, which also took place in other African countries, aimed to build newsroom capacity within the region in digital journalism.

Akintunde, who was represented by the Deputy Director of Accountability Programme, CJID, Eno Mboho, said: “It’s just the need for us to grow the army of fact-checkers. And we thought it would be nice to have this training as we prepare for the Ondo governorship election.

“During the general elections, we noticed a huge volume of disinformation, and we also suspect that that’s going to be the same as we look up towards the election in Ondo State. And one other thing that birthed this initiative is also the need to grow foot-soldiers of fact-checkers within our space.”

“Normally, we do this training in the big cities, Lagos and Abuja, and we thought it was also wise to extend it to community journalists who are closer to the populace than some of the mega national media platforms.

“At this point, I will just encourage Nigerians to always try as much as possible to ensure that whatever information you are passing, whether through WhatsApp platforms or one-on-one messaging, is accurate. Help contribute to the security of Nigeria by not spreading disinformation and misinformation.”